What Is a Trust Indenture?
Let me explain what a trust indenture really is. It's that legal agreement in a bond contract between the bond issuer and a trustee who looks out for you, the bondholder. This document lays out the rules and responsibilities everyone has to follow, and it might even point out where the bond's income comes from.
Key Takeaways
- A trust indenture is a legal and binding bond contract between a bond issuer and a trustee to protect your interests as a bondholder.
- It describes the bond's characteristics and the terms of its callability, plus it sets limits on additional debt the issuer can take on and outlines what happens if the issuer defaults.
- Most corporate bond issues over $5 million require a trust indenture, and you have to file a copy with the SEC.
How a Trust Indenture Works
Bonds get issued to lenders or investors like you to raise money for a corporation or government body. When issuing a bond, the issuer brings in a third-party trustee—usually a bank or trust company—to represent buyers like you. The agreement between the issuer and this trustee is what we call the trust indenture.
This trust indenture is a legal and binding contract designed to protect your interests as a bondholder. It includes the trustee's name and contact info, and it spells out the terms and conditions that the issuer, lender, and trustee must stick to throughout the bond's life. Pay attention to the section on the trustee's role—it's crucial because it explains how to handle unexpected issues. For instance, if there's a conflict of interest with the trustee acting as a fiduciary, some indentures require resolution within 90 days, or else a new trustee gets hired.
The trust indenture also covers the bond's key features, like its maturity date, face value, coupon rate, payment schedule, and the purpose of the issue. There's a whole section on what happens in case of default, setting up a collective action mechanism so creditors or bondholders like you can collect fairly and orderly if the issuer defaults. As a bondholder, you need to know this sequence of events to take the right steps if it happens.
Special Provisions of a Trust Indenture
Protective or restrictive covenants are a big part of any trust indenture. For example, it might say if the bond is callable. If the issuer can call the bond, the indenture includes call protection for you, meaning a period where they can't repurchase the bonds from the market. After that, it lists the first call dates and any later ones when the issuer can exercise that right. It also states the call premium—the price paid if they buy back the bond.
Almost all indentures have subordination clauses that cap how much more debt the issuer can take on, and they make sure any new debt is subordinate to existing ones. Without these, the issuer could theoretically pile on unlimited debt, ramping up your default risk as a bondholder.
Which Bonds Have Trust Indentures?
Not every bond contract includes a trust indenture, since some government bonds cover similar ground—the duties and rights of the issuer and bondholders—in something called a bond resolution.
Many of the rules for trust indentures come from the Trust Indenture Act (TIA), legislation passed in 1939 to protect bondholders and investors like you.
That said, most corporate offerings do need a trust indenture. For corporate bonds with aggregate principal of at least $5 million, you must file a copy with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Smaller corporate issues under $5 million, municipal bonds, and government-issued bonds don't have to file with the SEC. Still, these entities might create a trust indenture anyway to reassure potential buyers, even if federal law doesn't require it.
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